Charcoal
by sylvanius
Summary: A simple day of house cleaning turns into way more than Numair bargained for when Daine starts getting a little too close to the truth. D/N. Post-RotG AU where Daine and Numair are not together yet. One-shot.


**Another new one-shot..something that came to me today instead of paying attention in class. I hope I'm not getting too OOC, I've been experimenting with a more confident post RotG Daine recently...  
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**Also this is set after RotG in an AU where they haven't gotten together.....again...i really like doing this set up...I have such a love of getting them together....Anyway, if you like it please review and give me some feedback!  
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**Disclaimer: Not mine**

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Numair sighed, trying to remember what his organization system had been. He had very specifically planned out where each type of book would go but that system had fallen apart about half an hour ago. Numair was currently in his bedroom at the tower re-organizing his personal books. He had realized earlier in the day how haphazard they had become and decided to do something about it. He really didn't think it was going to become a full day affair. He sighed, running a hand through his thick, now also haphazard, hair and there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." He said, unable to keep the sigh from his voice.

"What have you gotten yourself into now master mage?" Daine said, grinning at him from the doorway. He couldn't help but grin back though he still got a rush from the now familiar jolt that rushed through him every time he saw her.

"Organizing things." He mumbled, waving towards the piles of books that covered his quarters.

"I can see it's going oh so well." She said with mock seriousness and he pouted.

"I've been at it all day." He sighed and she raised an eyebrow at the shelf that currently held a grand total of three books.

"Well in that case I would call it a complete success." She said, gesturing towards the bookcase and smirking at him.

"Don't mock, this is difficult." He looked around him, he could have sworn he had just found the book he needed before she came in, and Daine sat down on a remarkably free spot on his bed.

"Why even bother? You'll just mess it up again as soon as a new project comes along?" She giggled and he glared at her.

"If you're just going to mock me I suggest you leave." He threatened though his heart wasn't in it and she raised her hands in defense.

"I'm sorry, I'll stop mocking you. What are these?" She held up a blank black book, one of several that were stacked in a pile on his nightstand.

"Oh, those are my sketchbooks." He said dismissively, surveying the piles.

"I didn't know you sketched."

"Oh I've been doing it for years, charcoal mostly." It was in fact one of his favorite hobbies. Capturing people and moments on paper. He had been drawing since before he left Carthak and he dared to say that he had become quite proficient. It relaxed him to run the charcoal over the smooth paper and to slowly create something from nothing, to capture fleeting moments and emotions.

"Can I look through them?" She asked, motioning to the pile, and he paused thinking and nodded when he remembered that his most recent one, the one she could never see, was in his study.

"Go ahead" He motioned to her and returned to what was at hand.

"Numair these are _wonderful_, why haven't I seen these before?" She gasped and he paused before answering.

"I don't really show them to people. There's something about drawing that's very personal." She nodded, understanding and went back to looking through the books. He spent the next few moments moving piles around in confusion before he froze remembering some specific drawings that he most definitely did _not_ want to share. He turned, trying to come up with some excuse to get them away from her only to see her staring at a page in shock. He grimaced and she looked up at him.

"Well now I really know what you meant by personal." She said, teasing, and turned the book to him. On the page was a very detailed drawing of a very naked woman. He tried to think of something to say but failed miserably. "Lover?" Daine asked, eyebrow raised. He really couldn't believe that she was teasing him about this, she had grown up so much.

"No, sister" He drawled back, rolling his eyes and Daine laughed.

"I'm sorry, do you not want me to see these now?" She asked, a note of hesitance finally entering her voice. He thought about it and shook his head.

"That's as bad as it gets, look if you want."

"There are others like this then?" The raised eyebrow was back and he could feel a blush stain his cheeks. She laughed again and flipped to the next page and then the next.

"You drew her a lot." She sated, a fact not a question.

"I suppose I did." He shrugged, turning back around. A few more moments passed.

"You could track the women in your life through these." She stated again and he turned back towards her.

"Pardon?" He asked, confused, and she smiled lightly.

"I just mean that you draw the some of the same people over and over again at certain points and then you just stop."

"There's a flaw to that magelet, I don't just draw my lovers." She shook her head at his response.

"That's true but you draw the people who are important to you and there's something different about the pictures of you lovers. There's something more intimate about those ones, I'm not sure, the tones different. It varies though, some are more so and some are less." She tapered off, staring at the picture in front of her. "Like this woman, you drew her a lot." She turned the picture towards him and he smiled lightly, remembering the woman. "Did you love her?" The question startled him and he paused.

"No, but I think it was the closest I had ever gotten at the time." He said finally, what was he supposed to say? She nodded and moved on to a new book.

"You're very insightful today." He said softly, watching her and she grinned goofily at him.

"Naw, I just know you too well." She returned to her browsing and Numair turned away again only to be interrupted again a few seconds later by an excited exclamation.

"You drew me!" She was holding the sketchbook out towards him and he looked at the picture. It was been after the siege on Pirates Swoop and he had sketched her as she healed a squirrel with a fractured leg. He laughed at her obvious excitement.

"Well I did say I drew my friends, you do know I consider you to be one of them right? Or do you just see us as casual acquaintances?" He teased and she stuck her tongue out at him. "There should be a couple more in there somewhere." He motioned towards the book and she began flipping through, stopping in a couple places.

"When did you do these? I didn't realize you were sketching me then." She said, pausing her search.

"You may tease me magelet but you also get lost in thought very easily." He pointed at her, smirking. "You may have also thought I was doing reports." He added as an afterthought and she nodded, immersed once again. The rest of the afternoon continued uneventfully and Daine eventually left to go talk to Cloud once she was done with his drawings. After she left he paused, sighing. It was frightening how easily she saw through him sometimes.

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Late that night Numair sat at his desk, having finished (sort of) organizing his books hours ago. It was well past midnight but he was immersed in a particularly enthralling tome and was only brought out of it by a knock on the partially open door and Daine sticking her head in.

"Still up?" She asked and he nodded. She opened the door fully and walked in causing Numair to take a deep breath. She had obviously come from bed, which meant that she was clad in only a shift. This particular shift seemed to be rather old and unsubstantial at that. It barely reached her mid-thigh and the material was so worn and thin that you could see her entire outline right down to the faint hint of her nipples.

"Do you need something?" He asked, wincing as his voice cracked. She shook her head, walking over to the desk.

"Just couldn't sleep so I decided to walk around a bit, I didn't know you were still up. Everything alright?" She asked, looking him in the eyes.

"Everything's fine, just caught up in a good book." He finding it harder and harder to only look at her face. She laughed, eyes losing contact with his own and falling down to the desk.

"Oh, this one's different. I haven't seen it yet." His eyes followed hers to see a sketchbook sitting on the edge of his desk; this one had gold thread embroidering the cover and was his most recent one. He went to grab it but she had beaten him to it and opened it. He stared in horror and felt himself go pale. That particular book had been the only one she couldn't be allowed to see; he had gotten it shortly before the war and it held nothing but pictures of her. Her sitting by the fire lost in thought, napping, smiling brightly about something. There were too many to play it off as a friend drawing a friend. He couldn't breathe and wanted nothing more than to flee form the room but he found himself unable to look away from her reactions. At first she smiled, seeing herself, but as she turned more pages the smile slowly faded and then, there is was, a clear and undeniable look of realization entered her eyes. His hands clenched the arms of the chair so as not to shake, his knuckles dead white. She flipped through a few more pages before she hit blank ones and slowly closed the book, setting it on the desk with agonizing calmness.

"You like to draw me." Her voice broke the deafening silence and though it was a statement he felt the need to answer.

"Very much so." She was looking him straight in the eyes and he had never felt so bare in his life. She glanced down at the desk and reached for the book. She picked it up slowly, along with the charcoal that was resting next to it and stepped towards him.

"So draw me." She said softly; handing him the book and the charcoal, the fingers of her left hand smudged black. He took them, dumbfounded and she smiled slightly, a smile he had never seen on her before. "But there is one question to ask; do you wish to draw me say holding a book or sitting next to the fire?" She paused again before continuing softly. "Or would you draw me as you did your lovers?" She looked him deep in the eyes and he felt his breath catch. It took him a moment but he found his voice again and spoke, his tone husky.

"I think that depends entirely on what you wish." He could feel his heart hammering in his chest as she smiled at him again in that maddeningly unfamiliar way and reached down to the hem of her shift, smudging the delicate white fabric black with charcoal, and slowly pulled it up.

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**Review please!**


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